Gary M (us) wrote: Good drama. Great acting. Good storyline. I enjoyed it very much

Kimberly S (fr) wrote: Diffuse story; evokes the Seventies well.

Thomas H (fr) wrote: The mockumentry is clever and the direction great and the film so true to real life. Pity the potential is lost at points in and get's boring, but it still keeps it going and results in a good film

Daijobu D (ru) wrote: Loss & rememberance - two of Kore-eda's favorite topics in his earlier films from MABOROSI to NOBODY KNOWS, and then continued with STILL WALKING. Whether it's the loss of innocense in NOBODY KNOWS, lost of loved ones in STILL WALKING, or the lost of memories in THE AFTERLIFE, DISTANCE focuses on "memories" [like THE AFTERLIFE] but instead draws from the perspective of those who stand outside of the 1st-person perspective. The story is set in a memorial gathering where family and friends meet to pay respect and share their memories on former cult-members who died from a mass suicide. The first 20 minutes of DISTANCE reminds me of films that tried to adhere to the DOGMA Manifesto where you literally just see people walking in the woods as they get lost trying to find their way out. But the film is much more than that. Along the course of the one-day gathering, the mysteries surrounding those who died from the mass suicide unfolds through flashbacks of those who came to mourn their untimely deaths. The mysterious impostor (played by ARATA), one of two only survivors to the suicide, serve as the link to answers while bring about more questions as to what really happened. Could he be a recruiter who introduced the cult to 2 of the dead members or is he just the innocent brother who joined because of his [now] dead sister? The scene by the river with Arata discussing his faith with Yuko (whom he claims to be his sister) seems to propose the idea that this WAS her introduction to the cult. Notice the scenes showing his use of photo-shop to paste himself into the girl's family photo, along with short clips of the mystery man burning photos in the back of the hut (in flash-back form) were both inserted thru-out the film. The consistent association with fire (i.e. the act of burning)could possibly imply his motive at the gathering as his way to rid his guilt for having to end his friends' lives... by helping the others find closure, he ends up resolving his own pain--having met the family of the dead, he finds relief & a way to move on. Not unlike what we've seen on news and documentaries about how cults are formed, the dead cult members in the story joined the clan b/c of being lost (e.g. loss of love or lack of self-worth)... The housewife felt abandoned by her husband, her companion lacked self-esteem... the flower-shop girl couldn't deal with her brother's suicide, and the teacher felt confined by the existing education system, thinking it hindered his good will and talent to benefit society, etc... all except for the lifeguard's brother who thought the clan offered a way for him to justify his existence and talent as a physician. We never find out why Arata's character became a member. He seemed to have been ambivalent to his purpose in life, and perhaps he felt the cult was the only place where he found a sense of purpose. We know he wanted to heal people, and we know he felt the cult was the answer and antidote to the others'pain. so many questions to a great story that probably didn't warrant having to endure the first 20 minutes to the film (which showed the group getting lost in the woods)... but if you can survive the first 20 minutes, the rest is all worth the wait... DISTANCE (2001) is not as good and entertaining a film as AFTERLIFE (1997), but Koreeda managed to show again how good stories don't need a huge budget, sets, and lots of CG gadgets to turn into a great piece of cinema.

FilmGrinder S (fr) wrote: I'm a big fan of Gordon and Combs. One of the better films in the Full Moon canon.

Stuart K (us) wrote: Agatha Christie's books got a new lease of life in the 1970's and 80's, and this was the second one to star Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot after Murder on the Nile (1978), it's a good adaptation with all the main cast hamming it up without a care in the world. But it captures the era well, and it has a good mystery at the centre of it. Poirot (Ustinov) is asked to check out an insurance claim on a diamond belonging to Sir Horace Blatt (Colin Blakely), the diamond is a fake and Blatt believes he knows who took it. A woman he courted in New York, who is now holidaying on a hotel on a small island in the west of the Mediterranean. The hotel is ran by Daphne Castle (Maggie Smith), and the guests include theatre producers Odell (James Mason) and Myra Gardener (Sylvia Miles), critic Rex Brewster (Roddy McDowall), young couple Patrick (Nicholas Clay) and Christine Redfern (Jane Birkin) and Kenneth Marshall (Denis Quilley) and his wife Arlena (Diana Rigg). As the guests mingle, one afternoon, Arlena turns up dead on a remote beach, and now Poirot has to use to his "little, grey cells" to find out whodunnit, but nothing is what it seems, and the guests seem to be changing their stories everytime Poirot makes his enquiries. It's a good murder mystery, and it has a good period score with the music of Cole Porter. Ustinov makes a good Poirot too, likeable and intelligent, and it has good, colourful support all having a good time. Oh, and the locations in Majorca are beautiful.